Great schools debate
The story on the Herald website here is proving the subject of some debate.
I’ve invited Derek (and anyone else) to debate the issues here by adding comments on this website, by clicking ‘comments’ below.
I support the decision by OCC to go for Option C, a new school for Grove for 600 pupils, that can be allowed to expand as the village grows. Grove was supposed to have a school 30 years ago. It should get it now.
Why ? Because I believe parents want choice in education. I know I do and many I spoke to during the election campaign also did. Whilst the various data about polls etc is confusing and contradictory, it does appear to support the desire for choice.
The polar opposites in this debate have been A & B, with C not seriously considered. A would be immensely damaging to education of children now, but Option C leaves King Alfred’s to carry on unhindered. As A is impractical only C offers choice.
This post explains the options in a bit more detail.
I am happy to go into more detail and answer questions, or debate the points in comments. What’s your view?
The meeting where Liberal Democrats will try to overturn this decision takes place on 10th July.
Wednesday 04 Jul 2007 | admin | New school
I totally support Option C, a new 600 place school in Grove. A new school in Grove will (I presume) be for children living in Grove which will mean either children don’t have to walk or cycle from Grove to Wantage, or parents don’t need to drive from Grove to Wantage (obviously a benefit environmentally). I would feel much happier if my daughter could walk to school in Grove.
A school in Grove would, I believe from talking to other parents, be supported FULLY by Grove residents.
There’s another point to make. OCC is committed to allowing this school to grow, as the village grows and in line with the vision of the Governors of the new school.
The following makes interesting reading.
http://www.heraldseries.net/news/hsletters/display.var.1520990.0.sad_to_read.php
As a parent of 2 young children living in Grove, my children will probably be old enough to go to this school when/if it is built. This will be both convient and will mean my children can safely walk to school without negotiating the hazzards of the busy roads to Wantage.
Grove deserves it’s own secondary school and with the proposed extra 2500 houses bringing the number of houses to over 7500 it would be madness in my opinion to proceed with any other option. Reducing the size of King Alfreds seems to defeat the whole idea of building a new school in Grove, whilst also undermining all that has been achieved in that school.
Grove has been crying out for its own school for years, as it has been pointed out it has not been a small village for some time. Having a school there would not only be better for the pupils but safer for them as they would have a shorter journey to work and in the case of the leviathon 4×4 driving mothers better for the enviroment (from a traffic point of view).
I would not want to live In Grove it it means my children have to travel to Wantage to go to school so I’d be looking to move out.
The choice that our children need is choice of subjects and courses. They should be able to choose from the broadest range possible. If I were faced with two schools in the area, one well-established and large, the other much smaller by comparison with an inevitably poorer choice of options for my child, I would opt for the former.
My oldest child is shortly to start at King Alfred’s and everything I have seen of the school gives me confidence that it is well-run, caring and progressive with an exciting future. I would quite happily see it expand to cover the needs of the growing population in Grove, thereby allowing it to increase the richness of its curriculum still further.
My 9 and 11 year olds currently cycle every day to school, from Grove into Wantage. This is a very short distance! We can get to Charlton school perfectly safely on the current cycle paths. Unfortunately the system does not continue into the town centre, this development is badly needed.
As far as I am concerned Wantage and Grove are part of the same community.
I have just read that common sense has prevailed at last, and the school IS to be built at Grove, this is a shot in the arm for Grove which has ,to be polite been going down hill slightly for a few years , with the proposed new housing development this could put Grove on the path to becoming a town in its own right and thus attract the funding and benits that a settlement of grove’s size deserves
Helen
Your comment makes a lot of sense. From what I’ve seen of King Alfred’s they have a clear vision about where they want to go. They make a very persuasive case and have a record of improvement.
Option A was never a goer therefore as it would do so much damage to them. For me, the only practical options were B or C.
If Option B that meant King Alfred’s would then be the sole provider for Wantage and Grove, for perhaps the next 20 or 30 years. But you hit the nail when you said it was what you would opt for, e.g. People need and want choices.
So it had to be C, giving a separate school, but leaving KAs unmolested. Some people would find the smaller school more attractive, some won’t.
Bill